For Woodbury State Farm site, hotel, grocery, offices planned

The office complex that formerly housed State Farm, at Radio Drive and Interstate 94 in Woodbury, stands empty in this 2010 photo. (Pioneer Press file photo: Scott Takushi)

Plans for a 100-acre office park -- with a vacated State Farm building at the center -- were unveiled Thursday in Woodbury.

Elion, a Miami-based real estate investment company, announced plans to build a hotel, grocery store, office buildings and restaurants around the sprawling State Farm building at Radio Drive and Interstate 94.

The site has been vacant for seven years, so the plans to develop it delighted city officials.

"It's very encouraging, very exciting," said planning and economic development director Janelle Schmitz. "After all the other development around here, this is the frosting on the cake."

If completed, the project's economic impact on Woodbury would be large.

Elion partner Juan DeAngulo declined to give a cost estimate for the project, but a smaller redevelopment plan two years ago was estimated to be a $100 million project.

DeAngulo said businesses in the State Farm building alone could require 2,000 workers. And that doesn't include jobs generated by businesses in the new buildings:

-- A 100,000-square-foot medical office building.

-- A 180-room hotel, connected by a skywalk to the medical building.

-- Two office buildings of about 30,000 square feet apiece, for businesses complementing those in the main State Farm building.

-- A grocery store, not to exceed 40,000 square feet, at Radio Drive and Hudson Road.

-- Four restaurants, including three "fast-casual" restaurants comparable to Chipotle's.

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The high-visibility site has been a headache for city officials since State Farm moved out in 2006.

The 400,000-square-foot building has proven difficult to sell because it was built for a single large-scale occupant and couldn't easily be subdivided.

Previous plans have fallen through. A developer in 2011 proposed rehabbing the building and adding senior citizens housing and a Costco store nearby.

City officials objected, saying they wanted more office space -- and not more big-box retail stores. The land is zoned as a place to work, and the city was reluctant to change the zoning to permit the Costco store.

But the new plan won't have that problem.

Woodbury's Schmitz said the project would be allowed if the land were rezoned as "gateway."

That zoning calls for 70 percent of a site to be developed and 30 percent to be open space. Gateway zoning does allow some retail space for buildings up to 40,000 square feet -- not enough for big-box stores.

City administrator Clint Gridley said a request for gateway zoning would be far more likely to get support from the city council.

Elion does not yet own the property but has a contract with State Farm to buy it -- just as the previous developer had.

But Mayor Mary Giuliani Stephens was more optimistic about this plan. "We want to bring higher-wage jobs to Woodbury," she said. "We are very encouraged by this."

Elion's DeAngulo said the project would be successful, partly because the real estate market has rebounded.